The Longest Sentence in the Book of Mormon

To my knowledge, the longest sentence in the Book of Mormon is found in 3 Nephi 21:1-7.  In the first verse the Savior taught that a sign in the last days would indicate that the time was at hand to “gather in, from their long dispersion, my people, O House of Israel and shall establish again among them my Zion.”  At the end of verse 7 He also restated the meaning of the sign; once the sign was observed then the people would “know that the work of the Father hath already commenced unto the fulfilling of the covenant which he hath made unto the people who are of the house of Israel.”  In the previous chapter the Lord had quoted most of Isaiah 52 in which the prophet spoke of a time when the Father will have “comforted his people” and “redeemed Jerusalem,” and when He will have “made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of the Father.”  In other words the prophet was speaking about the gathering of Israel in the last days, when the Lord would “remember the covenant which [He has] made with [His] people” in that He would “gather them together in [His] own due time” (3 Nephi 20:29, 34-35).  So essentially in these initial verses of 3 Nephi 21 the Savior told the people how they could know then these words of Isaiah about the gathering in of the House of Israel would take place.   

                So what is the sign to indicate that the gathering is happening?  In verses 2, 3, 5, and 7 He described what that sign was in these terms to the Nephites: “When these things which I declare unto you, and which I shall declare unto you hereafter of myself… shall be made known unto the Gentiles… when these works and the works which shall be wrought among you hereafter shall come forth from the Gentiles, unto your seed… and when these things come to pass that thy seed shall begin to know these things,” then we would know that the gathering was underway.  The heading of the chapter sums it up this way: “Israel shall be gathered when the Book of Mormon comes forth.”  More specifically, when the Gentiles and the seed of the Nephites and Lamanites would have the words Christ would speak in this post-Resurrection visit to the Americas and know of the miracles He wrought among them, that was our indication that the gathering of Israel and the establishment of Zion had already commenced.  Verses 4 and 6 are asides that teach two important facts related to the sign.  First, verse 4 tells of one specific thing the Father will do so that these things—the record of the Book of Mormon—will be able to come forth as the sign: the people in the land of the Nephites and Lamanites would “be set up as a free people by the power of the Father, that these things might come forth from them unto a remnant of your seed.”  The establishment of the United States and the freedoms of religion that it would provide would be a key part of how the Lord would get the words of the Book of Mormon published and into the hands of the Gentiles.  Verse 6 shows that the sign is really not an exclusive promise for the blood descendants of the House of Israel but that all can repent and be a part of God’s people: “The Gentiles, if they will not harden their hearts, that they may repent and come unto me and be baptized in my name and know of the true points of my doctrine, that they may be numbered among my people, O house of Israel.”  So the coming forth of the Book of Mormon is not only a sign to the House of Israel but to all of the world that God’s work has begun in the latter days and that we can be numbered among His people through the waters of baptism.  This one sentence of seven verses contains important insight into the Lord’s work of the last days and the key role that the Book of Mormon plays in the gathering of Israel.